Monthly Miscellany: May Edition

Recent Reads and Favorite Things and Too Many Parenthetical Statements

Life Lately

Friends, how is it almost June?! What is happening to this year? (Shoutout to everyone just trying to survive the end-of-year activities and sports and all. the.things!) My girls have wrapped up school for the year (7th grade and 1st grade are DONE), and we are getting ready to go on a family vacation to the beach. I’m looking forward to beautiful ocean views, the roar of the waves, lots of sun, and (hopefully) lots of sleep.

From our trip last year. Is there anything better than this view?

Today I had a tele-health appointment with my gastroenterologist, and it was overwhelming and frustrating. If you’re wondering why I have a gastroenterologist, the short answer is that I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder called ulcerative colitis in 2012, and I have been dealing with a flare-up of symptoms since LAST summer (here’s a link to a post I wrote previously about living with ulcerative colitis). So many things that we try to treat my disease end up requiring a lot of waiting, either because insurance takes a long time to approve them or because nothing works overnight (I have lost track of how many times I have heard a medical provider say “we need to give it more time”).

I am fortunate in that overall my illness has been well-managed, and I have not had significant complications from ulcerative colitis, but the past few months have not been fun, either. While I’m not new to all that dealing with a chronic illness requires of me, I definitely have periods when it gets to me more than other times, and right now I am weary. I don’t like not being able to predict how my body is going to feel from one day to the next. I don’t like having to be hyper-aware of where the closest bathroom is at all time. I don’t like feeling anxious about spending hours in the car on the way to the beach because what if I need a bathroom and there simply isn’t one nearby? And since ulcerative colitis is what is often called an “invisible illness,” it’s not often apparent to others that I have any problems at all. But at the end of the day, I can’t rest my hope in what the next medication will or won’t do. I can’t rest my hope in a doctor to find just the right treatment. Medicines fail. Doctors are imperfect. My ultimate hope must rest in Jesus, who will strengthen me internally when my flesh and my heart fail¹. I will pursue treatment and be discerning and prayerful, and then I will give it to Jesus. I may have to give it all to Him again tomorrow, but so be it.

Now let’s move onto more fun things, shall we?

Recent Reads

Photo by Kimberly Farmer on Unsplash

1. Tonight I’m hosting book club at our house for the first time, and I can’t wait! We are going to talk about What Alice Forgot² by Lianne Moriarty, which is a book I love and definitely recommend (it’s my favorite of Moriarty’s works).

2. I read Kristin Hannah’s The Women, and it was completely absorbing but also completely depressing (par for the course for this author, I know). I confess to knowing very little about the Vietnam War because we never seemed to make it that far in history classes, and I would like to learn more after reading this book. I cannot imagine what it must have been like for all of the soldiers and medical professionals who were in the thick of things in Vietnam.

3. I’m slowly making my way through the audiobook of Parenting with Hope: Raising Teens for Christ in a Secular World by Melissa Kruger. I wish I had the ebook or physical book, though; there are a lot of good nuggets that I want to be able to go back to easily, and an audiobook is not the format for that.

4. I’m over 200 pages into 650 pages of The Rose Code, about female codebreakers during World War II, and it is riveting.

5. My total reading goal for the year is 45 books, and after almost 5 months, I have only read 13, so I need to get busy! Hopefully I can get some quality reading time in on vacation.

Favorite Music

1. “He Maketh No Mistake” by The Worship Initiative. The lyrics to this song are so rich and are based on this poem by A.M. Overton.

2. “The Lord Will Provide” by The Worship Initiative and Davy Flowers.

3. “Twenty-Five” by Lake Street Drive. I love the nostalgia of this song.

4. “His Glory and My Good” by CityAlight. “When I gaze upon His beauty,
   when I see Him as I should, then my eyes are lifted upward, for His glory and my good.”

Favorite Podcasts

Photo by Matt Botsford on Unsplash

• “The Parenting Hope We All Need Right Now with Sissy Goff” on the Coffee + Crumbs podcast. Sissy is one of my favorite Instagram follows, and this episode was very helpful and encouraging.

• “Whole 10: When You Give Grace to Everyone but Yourself” on the Risen Motherhood podcast. We all need reminders to be kinder to ourselves because we are beloved children of God.

Favorite Finds Around the Web

• “15 Tricks You Didn’t Know Your iPhone Could Do” from Wirecutter. I knew almost none of these!

• “Stop Swiping, Start Serving” by Tim Challies. “The more time you spend clicking and scrolling and swiping, the less you’ve got to give to the people you have covenanted with, the people you can actually impact, the people who need to be loved. Your church needs people who are experts in love, not experts in controversy and celebrity.”

• “Cling to the Light: How to Cope When Suffering from Depression” by Kathryn Butler. These are simple and underrated tips.

• “Worse Than Any Affliction: Why I Refuse to Grumble” by Joni Eareckson Tada. My Life Group teacher referenced this article recently, and it convicted me deeply. I do not want to default to grumbling!

• Stephen got me the world’s best Mother’s Day present: a wooden photo cube! It has pictures of me and the girls and makes me happy every day.

  

Reader Poll

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That’s it for this month’s miscellany! What are you reading, listening to, or watching lately?

1. Psalm 73:26

2. Amazon links are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you purchase through one. Thank you for your support!